The Royal Household eliminated Prince Andrew’s army hyperlinks and royal patronages on Thursday and mentioned he’ll not be often called “His Royal Highness”, because the son of Queen Elizabeth fights a U.S. lawsuit during which he’s accused of intercourse abuse.
Andrew, 61, the Duke of York, was pressured to step down from public duties in 2019 due to his connections to convicted U.S. intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, and after a disastrous BBC TV interview which the prince had hoped would clear his title.
Thursday’s transfer by the royal household means he’ll now lose all his royal connections.
“With the queen’s approval and settlement, The Duke of York’s army affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen,” Buckingham Palace mentioned in an announcement.
“The Duke of York will proceed to not undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a non-public citizen.”
On Wednesday, Andrew’s legal professionals failed to influence a U.S. decide to dismiss a civil lawsuit during which Virginia Giuffre accuses him of sexually abusing her when she was a teen.
U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan mentioned Giuffre, 38, might pursue claims that Andrew battered her and deliberately brought on her emotional misery whereas Epstein – a financier who killed himself in jail in August 2019 whereas awaiting his intercourse trafficking trial – was trafficking her.
The prince, the 95-year-old queen’s second son, has denied Giuffre’s accusations that he pressured her to have intercourse greater than 20 years in the past at a London house of former Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties.
The decide’s resolution means Andrew might be pressured to present proof at a trial which might start between September and December 2022 if no settlement had been reached.
‘MARATHON NOT A SPRINT’
“Given the robustness with which Decide Kaplan greeted our arguments, we’re unsurprised by the ruling,” a supply near Andrew mentioned.
“Nevertheless, it was not a judgement on the deserves of Ms Giuffre’s allegations. This can be a marathon not a dash and the Duke will proceed to defend himself towards these claims.”
A consultant for Giuffre didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Andrew’s hyperlinks to Epstein had led to a swathe of damaging media reviews, main the prince to determine to do an TV interview in November 2019 which he hoped would resolve the matter.
It as a substitute led to ridicule and additional questions, and because the controversy grew, Buckingham Palace had more and more distanced itself from the prince, declining to remark and referring all inquiries to his legal professionals.
“That is now in regards to the safety of the royal household’s status. That is more likely to do, and is already doing, appreciable reputational harm – it’s being adopted world wide,” the BBC’s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell mentioned.
The U.S. conviction final month of his buddy Ghislaine Maxwell on intercourse trafficking and different expenses of recruiting and grooming underage women for Epstein to abuse, collectively along with his personal case, had left his status within the British media in tatters.
A royal supply mentioned the choice over Andrew got here after extensive discussions among the many Windsors, and that his army affiliations and patronages can be redistributed to different family members.
Earlier, an open letter to the queen, signed by greater than 150 veterans calling for Andrew too have his army titles taken away and “if obligatory, that he be dishonourably discharged”, was printed by the anti-monarchy marketing campaign group Republic.
They referred to as for Elizabeth to take rapid motion as a result of her son had been “uncooperative and fewer than truthful” about his relationship with Epstein, and had introduced the armed companies he represented into disrepute.
“No matter the results of Virginia Giuffre’s civil case towards Prince Andrew, his place in Britain’s armed forces is now untenable,” the veterans’ letter mentioned.
The scandal surrounding Andrew comes on the heels of the harm brought on after the queen’s grandson Prince Harry and his American spouse Meghan stop royal duties to forge new careers in Los Angeles, later accusing the royal family of racism.
They too had been stripped of all their patronages, the ‘His and Her Royal Highness’ titles, and Harry additionally misplaced his prized army roles.
(Reuters)